2024

Vemod – The Deepening Review

By El Cuervo on January 23, 2024 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, 21 comments

“The sophomore album can be a make-or-break moment. Does a band double-down on what made their first release remarkable, or dilute its impact and fade into obscurity? The Deepening by Vemod is such a record, although comes so long after the debut that the band might as well be new again. 12 years is a long gap and a long time in which a band may reinvent itself. The Deepening finds these Norwegians deepening their own lore through a new take on their original black metal – but has the gap afforded their new sound quality too?” Deep or sunken?

Vitriol – Suffer & Become Review

By Holdeneye on January 23, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 102 comments

“When our resident death metal professor, Ferrous Beuller, covered To Bathe from the Throat of Cowardice, the debut full-length from Portland’s Vitriol, he was struck by the sheer heaviness that dominated the record. And while he noted the enormous potential displayed by the band, he bemoaned the lack of balancing contrast, a lack that prevented the monstrous material from making the intended impact.” Impact is imminent.

Inver – On This Earth Review

By GardensTale on January 23, 2024 in Reviews, Gothic Metal, 22 comments

“Inver is another unknown and unsigned yet unusual gothic metal band. Inver has no releases, no demos, and barely an online presence to speak of. I can’t even confirm the country of origin with certainty, though British or Irish seem the most likely petri dishes.” Unidentified sadbois.

Manticora – Mycelium Review

By Eldritch Elitist on January 22, 2024 in Reviews, Power Metal, Thrash Metal, 53 comments

“AMG’s Law of Diminishing Records is a generally reliable metric that a handful of bands continuously defy, and Denmark’s prog-power mainstays Manticora is one of them. It’s easy to see why; looking retrospectively at their nine prior albums, there is no entry where the band could be accused of failing to innovate or experiment in some respect, a decades-long discographic evolution culminating in the towering To Kill / To Live duology. I maintain that the second act of that duology is their best effort to date, and I lowered my expectations for Mycelium accordingly.” Evolutionary side quests.

Abhoria – Depths Review

By Holdeneye on January 22, 2024 in Reviews, Black Metal, 31 comments

“In case you haven’t figured it out by now, music critics are generally complete morons. We listen to music, feel some feelings, think some thoughts, and then write some words, all the while thinking that our opinions might actually matter to anyone besides ourselves. In fact, we often times don’t even agree with our own opinions when given enough time and distance from when and where we originally formed them. Case in point: my review of Abhoria’s self-titled debut record, in which I nitpicked that the almost uniformly aggressive nature of the songs made the tracks blend together a bit” Reviews are for suckers.

Cariosus – Will, Until Beauty Review

By Dr. Wvrm on January 21, 2024 in Reviews, Deathcore, Melodic Death Metal, 27 comments

“Autopsying deathcore-inclined melodic death metal rarely turns up anything of note. The cause of death is obvious — a yawning void in the cranial cavity, with ink poisoning in the neck as a contributing factor. What reviewer could be blamed for assuming the obvious of Will, Until Beauty, the debut full-length from Chicago duo Cariosus? What a surprise then that further inspection has turned up a record that not only has grey matter intact, but has half a heartbeat too!” Heartcoreworks.

Sgàile – Traverse the Bealach Review

By Mystikus Hugebeard on January 19, 2024 in Reviews, Progressive Metal, 58 comments

“I get few opportunities for hiking thanks to my urban-adjacent residency, but were I to pick my ideal hiking spot, the Scottish Highlands would be up there. In lieu of a plane ticket, it seems I must settle for yet another spin of Traverse the Bealach, the long-distance hiking-inspired concept album about a nomad’s journey through post-apocalyptic Scotland, from Tony Dunn’s Sgàile. Dunn has an impressive resume that spans playing bass in Cnoc an Tursa, singing for Falloch, and some live performances with his former bandmate Andy Marshall’s Saor, but Sgàile is his one-man show.” Walkabout-core.

Sovereign – Altered Realities Review

By Steel Druhm on January 19, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 65 comments

“From the chilly fjords of Norway comes the full-length debut by retro prog-death-thrashers, Sovereign. Formed by members of black and thrash acts like Nocturnal Breed and The Konsortium, Altered Realities is prime Death worship mixed with a generous topping of Possessed, Sadus and Demolition Hammer granola. It’s technical as Hell, proggy enough to be unusual, and has the requisite amount of thrashery to kick some teeth loose. If pressed to explain the album’s sound in an elevator pitch, I would say it sounds like the album Death could have recorded between Spiritual Healing and Human.” Altering the future again?

Kontact – Full Contact Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on January 19, 2024 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, Occult Rock, 32 comments

“When a band draws so clearly on an aged aesthetic, the results can be hard to parse as pastiche, worship, or otherwise. Even moreso in niche corners like the epic heavy metal crowd, where soaring vocals of varying qualities—all hoping to stick in your mind regardless—triumph alongside thick kicks, thicker riffs, and battle-tested builds, worshippers of the riff conflict with worshippers of the riffers. Enter Kontact, a young Canadian troupe whose 2022 release, the cheeky-titled EP First Contact, played tightly on the ideas set forth by the idiosyncratic but ever-mountainous Manilla Road, but with enough of their space-bound palette to paint a few stripes of their own.” Bad touch.

Iron Front – Hooked Review

By Doom_et_Al on January 18, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, Slam, 18 comments

“Iron Front are a young band fresh outta the savage wasteland of California. Their sound is a straightforward mix of hardcore, slam and brutal death, with an emphasis on the groove, not on noodly technicality. Their aim, from the outset, is to crush, not dazzle. Their debut, 2022’s Left Out to Rot, was as unpretentious as it was fun: a brutal little appetizer that promised more. That “more” is Hooked, and straightaway the cover will tell you everything you need to know.” Iron deficiency.